I rarely write admirably of the SDP or Dr Chee, because ever since Dr Chee took leadership of the Singapore Democratic Party’s [SDP], I held him responsible for causing a setback in our democratic progress for 15 years. Maybe it wasn’t justified but I am entitled to my opinion.

Thus, I went to the SDP rally at Jurong East Stadium without any expectations. I went because the least I can do for them is listen to what they have to say, and also to listen to Tan Jee Say and Dr Vincent Wijeyshinga in specific. I must say even though the turnout was not as spectacular and electrifying as that of Hougang last night, I am glad I was there – because I was there to witness the rebirth of a political party.

Let me explain what I meant by the SDP’s rebirth – because it was orderly and I didn’t see any SDP members pulling any crazy stunts. At the end of the rally, it was announced that someone has come from Sembawang to present Dr Chee Soon Juan a garland. I was half expecting a scuffle and yet another fiasco when I saw the SDP party flags waving. I thought Dr Chee will attempt to step up to the stage and create a scene. He didn’t and received the garland below the stage. I breathe a sigh of relief and later read on Facebook that when asked, a clearly mellowed Dr Chee had replied (and I paraphrase): “I am not allowed by the law to speak.”

One might consider his reply as a whimper, but to me it annouces the SDP’s return to the local political scene as a sensible party with a bang! My friends and I discussed over supper the reason of the SDP’s change in behaviour, and we speculated that they did a post-election evaluation and noticed there was at least 8% of spoilt votes in Sembawang Group Representation Constituency [GRC] in the last election. They probably also reviewed the response to their activism on the social media and realised just how much that damaged their image and their cause. All of these may have caused the SDP come to terms with the futility of that course of action and mature accordingly.

Danny the Democracy Bear

Anyway, again I was too distracted to pay a lot of attention to what the candidates said on stage, but I’ll bring up some of the points I have heard. If I remembered correctly, Tan Jee Say mentioned he was taken to task by People’s Action Party [PAP] leaders for suggesting to use 60-billion dollars from our reserves on a National Regeneration Plan. The PAP tried to have us understand that $60,000,000,000 is no small change. Indeed, it maybe no small change but could anyone really tell us just how much reserves is there is for us to decide just whether this is going to take a large chunk out of the reserves? In fact, does the PAP even know how much reserves there really is in the first place? I certainly recalled that even ex-President Ong asked and never got an answer. The PAP said that the reserves gave us comfort and confidence, but can you be confident when someone tells you there’s a safety rope around your waist so you can do a bungee jump now when you cannot even see or feel and touch that rope? Really, I would rather hug a larger version of Danny the Democracy Bear for comfort in my time of crisis.

It was the first time I heard Vincent Wijeyshinga spoke (if one does not count what I saw on video) and I must say it was a very rousing speech. I understand that many people would be asking what is the point of a rousing speech. Many would ask whether the speaker can deliver and to show them the beef.

Allow me to sidetrack a little… I noticed that some of the people got bored and walked out when Teo Soh Lung spoke. In fact, I even noticed people walking out of Chen Show Mao’s speech last night. It was not that what these speakers said have no grounds or good reasons. In fact, Teo Soh Lung was making a promise to her potential voters what she would do as a Member of Parliament [MP] – from donating half of her MP allowance to the party and community, and questioning her opponent on why our education policies have turned Singapore into a ‘tuition nation’.

My point here is, a rally speaker should not attempt to ‘reason’ with those present. Reasoning should be done with armchair warriors like me typing away on a keyboard, or in a forum where there is interaction between participants. But when speaking in a rally, a speaker rouses those who are present. I am not expect a Hitler but at least I expect an Obama. A rally speech should be so filled with political talk that when the speaker is done the people present get so fired up and inspired that they felt they are invincible and walk out of the rally ready to take down Godzilla with their bare hands.

Mr Low Thia Khiang and some of the Workers’ Party speakers were able to do that. Teo Soh Lung certainly couldn’t but Dr Vincent could. I find myself agreeing with many things he said and the crowded responded and rallied like never before. I can’t judge whether the SDP could deliver on their promises nor can I say whether there was any bite in what they said. But, I walked away remembering some of the things Dr Vincent said – like how the PAP talks about the value of money, but refused to talk about the YOG over-budget. Not to mention how a town council lost several million dollars of sinking funds in bad investments. If I am not wrong, he even threw in a joke saying that there are 6 zeros in million but when you lose that money you get 7 zeros. It took a while for me (yes, I am not that smart) to get the joke what the extra zero signifies. I walked away remembering all these, and it rekindled my anger over the lack of humility and accountability from the PAP.

Really, I am not expecting (and certainly do not like) any mudslinging or our politicians to play really dirty and be down right personal like those in Taiwan. But this was a rally speech I am expecting.

Keep up this good work, SDP! As a Singaporean, I welcome you back into the political scene.